Aero Vintage Books

Last July I was in contact with Richard Goldman. His grandfather was Hugh Wheelless who owned Dothan Aviation at Dothan, Alabama. That company's main claim to fame as far as warbirds go was the fire ant program of the 1960s and 1970s that used a fleet of B-25s, B-17s, PV-2s, and Martin 404s to spread the mirex pesticide over a vast part of the southeastern U.S. Richard Goldman sent me a good selection of photos, several of which I am posting right here.

The first is of TB-25N 43-27868, N9077Z, doing some testing of spreading equipment in 1959. The pesticide was added to corncobs that were then finely ground and spread via hoppers in the fuselage and spreader bars under the fuselage and wings. Civil registration records show Dothan Aviation bought this B-25 in February 1960 from another civil owner (who had purchased it surplus in December 1959) so the date on the photo may be close but not correct. This airplane now flies with the CAF as Yellow Rose.



This is a view of TB-25N 43-35972 at Davis-Monthan in 1960. It was purchased by Dothan Aviation in September 1960. It now flies with the CAF as Maid in the Shade.



This same B-25 later in service with Dothan Aviation. The B-25s did not last too long dropping mirex. They were replaced by B-17s and PV-2s soon enough.



Here is an unidentified Dothan B-25 departing. The spreading bars can be seen.



Next is B-17G 44-85740, N5014N, departing. This airplane now flies with EAA.



And here is another of the Dothan B-17s, 44-8543, N3701G, after the right landing gear collapsed. It now files tours with the Liberty Foundation, until recently as Madras Maiden, but was just modified and repainted to resemble a B-17F. Dothan operated a total of three B-17s, the third being the ex-USCG PB-1G 77246 (44-85812), N4710C.



Here is a Sunday magazine cover that features one of the B-17s and crewmembers. Mr. Hugh Wheelless is in the center of the photo and I'd bet chief pilot Virgil Finn is in there too.



And, finally, here is a list of aircraft operated by Dothan, date unknown. Note the four B-25s are all shown as inactive.

Thanks for the photos, especially the ones of 44-8543. When she was still Chuckie we cleaned out some of the ground corncobs up in the turtledeck area that had gotten between the fuselage and the turtledeck fairing. The loading hopper was fitted into the radio hatch and some extra Myrex and corncobs spilled into the fairing. 543 also had the mounting brackets still in the wing trailing edges for the augers that took the poison from the radio room hopper and distributed it out to the wing distribution system.

I wouldn't be surprised if the magazine cover isn't 543 also--no navigator astrodome. I don't remember exactly, but it seems the other two airplanes still had theirs.